Somers Central School District Safety Task Force Report Committee Report to the Board of Education and Superintendent August 28, 2018
Contents Formation of Task Force Task Force Objectives Schedule of Task Force Process of Task Force Findings of the Task Force Recommendations of the Task Force
Formation of Task Force • As part of its ongoing efforts to improve school safety, the Somers Central School District (“SCSD”) created the Safety Task Force. Correspondence was sent to the Somers community in mid-June soliciting applications. • SCSD received approximately fifty applications, including but not limited to volunteers from law enforcement agencies, mental health professionals, the Somers Youth Sports Organization, the PTA, and Somers Town Council members. Due to the broad set of skills and talents of the applicants, SCSD expanded the Task Force volunteer size from ten members to fifteen volunteer members. The Task Force also included multiple faculty, administrators and support staff of the SCSD, law enforcement and BOCES safety representatives. • In addition, SCSD previously engaged Altaris Consulting Group to provide a safety audit of our schools. Altaris representatives summarized their findings to the Task Force and participated in all meetings.
Task Force Objectives The objectives of the Task Force were as follows: • Gain an understanding of the current school safety status in SCSD; • Discover best practices in school safety from safety experts; • Explore best mental health practices for school-aged children; and • Identify and prioritize recommendations and provide a summary report to the Superintendent and Board of Education.
Schedule of Task Force • The Task Force met four times over the months of July and August. Representatives of Altaris and the police department attended and participated in each meeting. • SCSD also hosted a School Safety and Information Night on August 15, 2018 for parents, in which questions were solicited from the community in advance and then addressed by the Superintendent and SCSD staff, Altaris Consulting, and the Westchester County Police Department.
Process of Task Force The process of the Task Force was as follows: • Altaris summarized its findings regarding the current safety practices of SCSD, and provided six areas of focus for opportunities for improvement; • The Task Force was divided into building-level groups to identify and discuss specific opportunities for improvement at each school; • The findings of each group were reported to the entire group and discussed in detail; • A prioritized action plan was agreed upon by consensus of the Task Force, addressing both District-wide and building-specific solutions to explore; • With input from Altaris, an initial draft of this report was prepared and disseminated to the Task Force for review and comment; and • A final report was prepared for submission to the Superintendent and the Board of Education.
Findings of the Task Force Best Practices Altaris provided a summary of the findings of their safety review and identified six general areas of focus for the Task Force: • District-wide . District-wide improvement opportunities relate to areas that have applicability to each school and should be applied uniformly throughout the District. Examples include but are not limited to such areas as: policies and procedures, emergency teams, emergency plans, and a school resource officer program. • Equipment . Certain types of equipment are an integral part of emergency preparedness in schools. Some examples include: “Go Kits” which contain the necessary equipment to care and manage building occupants in an evacuation or parent reunification, portable radios that allow effective communication across the campus and even the District, and quick reference guides to guide employees in a critical incident.
Best Practices (continued) • Exterior . Improvement opportunities on the exterior of the building focus encompass safety, security and emergency preparedness. Areas include: identification and mitigation of critical landscaping hazards or vulnerabilities such as obscured sight lines or roof access, adequate fencing that also permits safe evacuation of building occupants from the campus when necessary, and uniform signage to guide visitors to the campus and outline applicable policies and procedures. • Interior . Improvement opportunities on the interior of the building also focus encompass safety, security and emergency preparedness. Areas include: room preparation to ensure that all areas of the building are able to implement the necessary protocols such as a lockdown, safety and security film that reinforces glass windows and partitions and can slow a potential intruder from gaining access to a space, and door locks that can be quickly secured from the interior of all rooms.
Best Practices (continued) • Technology . While technology does not take the place of people when preventing and responding to emergencies, it can greatly enhance the overall safety and security of schools. Some key areas of improvement include: Electronic access control for both exterior and interior doors, robust security camera coverage on both the exterior and interior of all school buildings, and a lockdown panic system that allows large school buildings to lockdown immediately and automates many of the necessary procedures to save critical time. • After-school . The security of buildings after normal instructional hours is a key challenge for schools. Many security measures in place during the school day do not extend to after hours, raising concerns about weapons and other devices being brought onto campuses for future use. The District is considering opportunities in this area including staffing and limiting access to certain portions of the building.
Practices to Avoid Altaris also provided recommendations regarding practices to avoid, which included: • Metal detectors . A properly run metal detection program can cost schools in excess of $100,000 to run properly. Unfortunately, while metal detectors may be used to secure a particular entry, they are easily defeated in a variety of ways. Checkpoints that are also not in some way protected by armed security or law enforcement personnel can be easily defeated by anyone with a weapon who is willing to use it. Finally, due to the time required to screen and the lack of preciseness with these devices, extensive delays would result and even further additional resources required. Instead, a school may wish to consider the availability of portable “wand” metal detectors to assist with specific investigations or for use as a deterrent in conducting random checks. A District-wide policy should guide any metal detector use. • Wedges . Simple plastic wedges, magnets and more elaborate lockdown devices may violate fire codes. Section 19.3.6.3.10 of the Life Safety Code states that corridor doors shall not be held open by devices other than those that release when the door is pushed or pulled.
Current School Safety Status Please note that this information is not cumulative, as some procedures and protocol are kept confidential in order to not jeopardize the safety of students and staff. • The Chief Emergency Officer for SCSD, along with the District’s SROs and PNW BOCES Safety Officer, conduct regular security checks and review safety plans for each building throughout the year. In addition, SCSD partners with the Somers Police Department, New York State Troopers, Westchester County Police, and the Somers Fire Department to develop its safety procedures and train staff and students.
Current School Safety Status (continued) • Daily safety measures include single point of entry and check-in systems, an armed SRO with a police car on each campus in the fall, regular checking of all exterior doors by the SROs throughout the day, security vestibules at SIS and SHS (with vestibules soon to be under construction at both PES and SMS, and expected completion by the summer of 2019), security cameras in multiple locations, sweeps of the buildings by both night and morning custodians, and a professionally monitored motion-activated security system. • SCSD conducts both announced and unannounced drills throughout the year at each building, including lockdown, lockout, and evacuation drills. As part of these procedures, staff conducts a headcount and accounts for each student by name. Law enforcement officers actively participate in these drills and debrief the group after each drill to review both the positive aspects and areas which can be improved. The administrative teams also conducts table top exercises to strategize various scenarios.
Current School Safety Status (continued) • All SCSD staff undergo ongoing safety and security training. This includes but is not limited to a recent active threat “train the trainer” workshop run by the Westchester County Police, safety/security workshops offered by PNW BOCES Safety Service or by law enforcement agencies. In addition, bus drivers and monitors receive training on how to respond to threats on the bus or in schools. For the 2018-2019 school year, eight half days are incorporated into the schedule for professional development, which will provide an opportunity to refresh staff on safety measures. The staff is also trained to identify at-risk students, and if needed, to report such students to the administration. SCSD also has an Anonymous Alerts Online System in place for staff and students, which allows for anonymous reporting of information to school officials.
Recommend
More recommend
